The launch took place at the Bobst facility in the Jiangsu province of China, dedicated to the production of web-fed equipment for the flexible packaging industry. The event was attended by brand owners, converting companies, industry suppliers and members of the trade press who travelled to Changzhou from countries in South East Asia and Pacific to discover the new Bobst gravure press. 

“The region is buzzing with interest since news of the launch of the Nova RS 5003 that takes over from the very successful RS 5002 press with new powerful features and automation”, said Sebastien Geffrault, zone business director, SEAP, business unit web-fed at Bobst. “Our gravure solutions bring together all the advantages of Bobst leading-edge technology with the flexibility of configuring them with market-related technical solutions. For example the choice of inking systems that can handle a broad variety of ink types, including the market-specific varieties that are used in the Indian and Asian flexible packaging industry, always with the highest graphic quality.”

True to the event theme of ‘Advancing productivity and sustainability in gravure printing’, the press presentation and demonstration highlighted the advanced features and automation aimed at maximising uptime, reducing waste and make the best of advanced connectivity features for full production and quality control.

The Nova RS 5003 features best-in-class automation including the possibility to add TAPS, a fully automatic pre-register setting at the touch of a button.

Job makeready and changeovers are very fast: the new doctor blade system is easy and quick to set, and the twin trolley solution, unique to Bobst, enables to change the printing cylinder without changing the ink, minimising job changeovers and colour matching time.

The twin flow dryers are also an exclusive technology. The highly efficient ventilation system minimises residual solvent on substrate, maximises energy savings and ensures low noise level in the pressroom. It is also the perfect platform for water-based inks, where drying capacity is one of the main concerns.

“The Nova RS 5003’s advanced press design delivers many advantages now and is ready to take on board the market evolving requirements, including the possibility to further expand the automation architecture of the press,” said David Garavaglia, head of product line gravure at Bobst.  “Looking ahead at market trends and focus on sustainability, the press is fully compatible with water-based ink printing, and can handle very efficiently the widest range of materials, including the new eco-friendly substrates.”